Children's toy putty pulled from shelves amid deadly arsenic fears

Children's toy putty has been urgently withdrawn from shelves - after fears emerged it contains deadly arsenic.

Amazon has removed a product labelled "Magnetic Putty" after tests found it contained seven times the permitted amount of the poison.

Northamptonshire Trading Standards also said the magnet was 29 times above the permitted magnet force.

It also reportedly had twice the amount of lead allowed and there are concerns that its size meant it could be "easily swallowed".

The product was labeled as not suitable for children aged up to three years - but it did not include a CE kite mark to show it complied with the uk's safety requirements for toys.

Northamptonshire Trading Standards stressed it was just one product it has barred from being sold - not all magnetic putties.

Trading Standards said: "The lack of these details indicated that a proper safety assessment of the toy may not have been made and makes tracing and removal of the product from sale slower and more difficult."

However, as part of an expanded investigation, other magnetic putties available on the market are now to be examined.

Amazon said: "Customer safety is our priority."

It added: "All marketplace sellers must follow our selling guidelines and those who don't will be subject to action including potential removal of their account.

"The product in question is no longer available."